Suit: Race Prompted Denial Of Housing

Two real estate brokers and their clients are suing the Courts of Inverrary Condominium Association, claiming the Lauderhill condo board rejected prospective buyers because they are black.

The suit, filed by the U.S. Justice Department in March, alleges the condo association at the 214-unit townhouse development violated the Fair Housing Act when it rejected an application by Patricia Armstrong and her brother Michael Davis.

"They were in total violation of the laws," he said of the association. "I felt that the people were mistreated and denied a proper house though they were ready, willing and able to purchase the house. There was no question of financing; they were paying cash for it."

According to the complaint: In June 1991, Armstrong signed a contract to purchase a condo unit at 6697 Racquet Club Drive. She was represented in the deal by real estate broker Maria Kong.

In July, the condo board's screening committee met with Armstrong and Davis and later recommended that the board approve Armstrong's application.

But the board rejected the application, offering no reason, the complaint says.

Board President Robert Block could not be reached for comment despite messages left at the board's office and Block's home.

During the same board meeting in July 1991, the association approved the sale of a different unit to a white buyer, the complaint says. The unit Armstrong was seeking was later sold to a white buyer as well, it says.

Outraged by the board's action, Schwartz filed a Fair Housing complaint with the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Following a HUD investigation, the agency's Office of the General Counsel issued a determination that "reasonable cause" existed to think the condo association "engaged in discriminatory housing practices," the suit says.

Assistant U.S. Attorney David Mellinger, a federal civil rights attorney, is asking U.S. District Judge Donald Graham in Miami to enjoin the condo association from any future violations of federal anti-discrimination laws. He is also seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.